Thank you.
We didn't have a chance to get a briefing out to the committee, but we do have a package here; we brought 25 of them that can be passed around. It also includes my speaking notes.
First, I would like to thank you for the opportunity to participate in this hearing to discuss the court challenges program. My name is Debbie Frost. I'm the president of the National Anti-Poverty Organization. With me is Rob Rainer, our executive director.
NAPO is a non-profit, non-partisan organization that represents the interests of low-income people across Canada. NAPO has been working for 35 years to give low-income people in Canada a powerful voice to speak up on social and economic policies and decisions that affect them and future generations. A unique aspect of our group is that all of our board members are individuals now living in or who have once lived in low-income circumstances.
We are here to express our concern over the loss of the funding to the court challenges program. This program was the only way most people, particularly the poor, could access courts to protect their rights under the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms. The only way we have of ensuring that our constitutional rights are protected is through the courts. We need funding to do this, and funding through this program. Without funding to access the courts, we have thus lost a measure of our access to democracy. Today, the only people who have the ability to fully realize their democratic and constitutional rights are those with the money to purchase such rights.
Over the last few months, the people of Canada have been wrongly informed about the court challenges program. It has been stated that the non-profit body governing the program has been secretive with cases it funds. However, the only time this body could not release information on cases being funded was when there was a client-lawyer privilege. This is no different from any other legal situation where there is a client-lawyer privilege--for example, that associated with legal aid. Once a court challenges case goes to court, it is on public record, and then the court challenges program will also release the information. Court challenges annual reports have been available to the government and to the public, and NAPO has also made them available through their website.
Over the years, the court challenges program has funded many cases that have benefited not only many low-income people but also disabled, women, visible minorities, aboriginal people, gays and lesbians, children, and single parents. The court challenges program funds equality litigation for low-income people, but it also provides litigation funding for linguistic rights. Without this funding we can no longer protect equality and linguistic rights in this country.
The Charter of Rights and Freedoms was a guaranteed protection against policies, regulations, and laws that violated our constitutional rights. By taking away the funding from this program, it takes away protection for the people of Canada. This leaves the Canadian Charter of Rights and Freedoms a weak document with little or no value to the people of Canada.
A new three-year funding contribution agreement had been signed for the court challenges program, which would have taken the program to 2009. At that time, the program would have been subject to another renewed funding agreement. We question the security of any program when the government cannot keep its word. How can the government enter into an agreement, renege on it, and then wonder why there is lack of public trust in government? What organization would trust government after this, with no communication to the court challenges group prior to reneging on the funding? It's pretty sad that any non-profit has to find out through a national announcement, rather than through a private conversation, that their funding has been cut.
Within groups trying to address poverty in Canada, there is a lot of talk about how government bashes the poor. The cancellation of the court challenges program, in our view, is another example of poor-bashing.
Our recommendation to this committee is that NAPO recommends that the funding for the court challenges program be restored as soon as possible, according to the signed contribution agreement previously mentioned. We also recommend that the structure of the non-profit body administering the program remain the same so that the program can continue to function efficiently and effectively, as it has in the past.
Thank you. We look forward to the discussion.